SET UP A FACTORY - 2

2. Tools, Equipments and Raw Materials

In the last posting I have stated the necessary requirements for you to establish a batik factory. You must have the land to build a factory.

Remember the Main Building? It must have a concrete wall and floor so that you can do the cleaning every weekend.

There are many tools and equipments for the purposes of creating a silk batik.

Photo 1 : the wooden frame or 'pemidang'

The first one is the "pemidang" a kind of rectangular wooden frame with a size of 5' x 16' fixed or screwed on 6 wooden poles sets upright from the floor to support the frame. The height of each frames are around 3' from the floor/ground. It looks like a long table frame without a board on it. This frame will be used to hang and hold the raw silk cloth in horizontal in accordance with the length of the frame. You may have to create at least 6 frames or more depending on the size of your Main Building.

pure raw silk from China

Now you have the frames for you to hold the cloth. It is the time to decide what is your first product. I suggest that you cut 4m length of raw silk cloth from its roll for preparation of a Malay's traditional ware called 'baju kurung'. Remember that a roll of pure raw silk is quite expensive. So, make sure your product is well created.

Use small hooks or pin to stretch the silk cloth to the frame (as in Photo 1 above). Pure raw silk cloth will not break even though under hard stretching. I will let you know later why one must stretch the cloth to the frame.

Let us see some other raw materials. For a start you must have 1kg of pure wax, 1kg of soaking powder, 5 liters of Sodium Silicate liquid and a bottle of vinegar.

Then you must have a small iron pot for heating and melting the wax...which means that you must have a small cooking apparatus powered by liquid gas.

canting, a  drawing pen

another look of canting

You must have a 'canting' or a drawing instrument specially handcrafted and made from iron  or copper which can keep the hot melted wax inside it and will produce the wax through small hole at the edge, just like a pen.

melted hot wag inside the boiling pot

This canting will be dipped into the pot containing hot melted wax. It will become a small container and at the same time will produce hot wax to stick on the stretched silk cloth in accordance with your design.

hot wax will flow from canting and stick to the cloth

The wax cannot stick and absorb to the cloth without the help of soaking powder. Just put 1/4kg of this powder into 1kg of melting wax. This hot mixture will stick and absorb well to the cloth.


Now, you may know why you need a stretched cloth on the frame. It is for the purpose of drawing with hot wax. If the cloth is set loose at the frame, you can't have a good drawing on it.

To be continued.